For a long time, services have existed which provided a one-call solution to the problem of a lost/stolen wallet. These services ensure that all your credit cards are blocked, replacements are ordered, and your financial losses from the theft are mitigated as much as possible.
Today, our digital lives require the same solution. In the event of someone stealing your digital identity, perhaps by obtaining one of your online passwords, would it not be valuable to have a service which automatically changed or disabled all your credentials for your online life, protecting your social networks, email access, banking passwords, health information etc.?
Today we might panic due to loss of a wallet, a theft in the house, or a robbery. While panicking is a natural reaction, what we aspire to today is a sophisticated solution, that could lock or block access to all our assets (physical or digital) simply and easily, irrespective of the location someone is in.
Such a service could be used for example, a) after a retail breach to change all your online passwords; b) after a mobile device is stolen that was not secured with a pin; c) by relations or legal representatives post death, to block or secure future access to your digital life; d) by a trusted third party after an aggressive act by an oppressive regime, to prevent government access to data without legal process; or e) on confiscation of a device to prevent self-incrimination.
The existing blocking and asset control mechanisms require users to memorize every service or asset means, such as all the cards, the bank or other organization to which they belong, find their own protocol and call center contacts, and then explain the loss. That procedure is tiresome and time consuming for anyone who is already threatened with risk to one or more of their assets, which can bring about mental agony and possibly even physical injury.